University of Vermont - Ariel Yearbook (Burlington, VT)

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preparatory school of which he afterward said: cAt first it was little more than a common school, where even females were permitted to attend. cAt a meeting of the corporation held on January 7. 1800. 5Vfr. Sanders was elected a member and its secretary, and with iMessrs. Hitchcock and Harrington he con- stituted a committee to prepare a device for a seal. l gcnt ©irecteb to procure t)ilos(opt)ical Apparatus! (f N January 10, 1800. ' David T usse was directed to procure such durable materials as are necessary for the erection of a college edifice so far as sub- scriptions shall enable him. On the day following the election of ' President Sanders, the agent for building a college ediRce was directed to procure such books for a library and such parts of a philosophical apparatus as shall be judged most useful. governor Tichenor was appointed a committee to procure a plan for the college edifice and transmit the same as soon as possible to ' i)avid %ussell, the agent. In a letter written to Qovernor Tichenor by iMr. Sanders. September 3, 1800, it was stated that at least half the bricks for a college edifice had been made and a contract had been drawn up for laying them. A ■ V; d risinal lb Mill iHobelleb after l rinceton IBuilbing JiN January, 1801, it was reported to the trustees that Qovernor Tichenor had failed to present a plan for a college edifice, and President Sanders, V il- liam C- Harrington and David ' Ti.ussell were appointed a committee to procure a plan from the Qovernor or adopt a new one according Jo their best judgment and superintend the actual execution of it. On the margin of a printed copy Fifteen

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October 17, a meeting of the corporation of the University of Vermont tx as held in that village, with Qovernor Tichenor in the chair. cA petition from citizens of ' Turlington was read which contained an obligatory clause binding the subscribers to the support of a President or college officers free of all expense ' to the corporation for the term of three years, or until such further period as the funds shall be sufficiently productive as to enable this corporation to effect the same object. Here, at last, was something definite and tangible, and after a long discussion the board authorized the choice of a President, electing unani- mously ' Jiev. Daniel Q- Sanders of ' Burlington. 4 iWibbletiurp (jlranteb a C!)arter (?i FORTNIGHT later the Legislature granted a charter to SVliddlebury Col- lege. The long delay in organizing the University of ' Vermont had en- couraged the citizens of SMiddlebury to believe that the college so long under consideration might be located in their village rather than at ' Burlington. cA further reason may be found in two visits from ' ' resident T)wight of Yale Col- lege, a militant champion of the orthodox religion of the period. resiibent of |9ale (0ppos!esi 3ra Uen 7(N appointing the trustees of the University of Vermont an effort had been ' made to avoid sectarianism and the members appointed represented several denominations. The fact that Ira oAllen. the principal figure in the establish- ment of the University, was a brother of Sthan (lAllen, known as an advocate of liberal religious views, may have influenced the President of Yale to defeat, if possible, the ' Burlington enterprise. In any event, the year 1800 saw the actual beginning of two collegiate institutions in a State having a population of 154.465. Baniel anberfi, jFirsit regibent of ?initjers!itp ' Tf ANIEL CLARKE SANDERS had been familiar with Vermont affairs for nearly a decade. He was thirty-two years old, at this time, having been born in Sturbridge, iMass., SVlay 3, 1768. He was graduated from Harvard College in the class of 1788, taught in the Cambridge, Mass. Qrammar School, studied theology, and was licensed to preach in 1790. In 1791 he received the degree of cA. SVI. from Harvard. He went to Vergennes, Vt., in May, 179Z, where he preached for several months, and received a call to the pastorate of the Congregational church. He did not accept the call at this time, but married a Vergennes woman, the daughter of jabez Fitch, an active business man residing in that place. In 1794, Mr. Sanders accepted a second call and served as pastor of the Vergennes church until (August, 1799. He had declined a call to the pastorate of the rattleboro church in order, to quote from his own auto- biography, that he might go to Burlington, to preach there, the first preaching they ever had, chiefly to get into operation the University of Vermont. He had also established a school in Turlington, and the corporation of the Univer- sity at its meeting held in Windsor, October 22, 1799, had voted that the ' Rev. T)aniel C- Sanders, instructor of the cAcademy in Turlington, have the use of the house for the President of the University and fifty acres of land adjoin- ing the building. Evidently there had been some understanding between Mr. Sanders and the University trustees relative to the presidency. He opened a Fourteen

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. . . ► of his historical address, delivered on the fiftieth anniversary of the graduation ► of the first University class, dx- ' J ' resident ohn Wheeler wrote that the plans for the first University building were presented by governor Tichenor, and were modelled after one of the buildings of ' Princeton College, the alma mater of the Qovernor. The work of construction was begun in the spring of 1801. For the time and place the building erected was a large and an imposing struc- ture. It was built of brick, four stories in height, 160 feet long (lacking only ten feet of the length of the present College of iMedicine building) , 75 feet wide in the central part and 45 feet wide in the wings. The building was carried as high as the third story the first season. The next year the fourth story was added. There was a chapel in the edifice, seven large public rooms and forty- five chambers for students. The building was not completed in all its details for several years. 0lii Mil ?ieU rotjefi a (Jloob 0nt (7t corporation meeting held August 21, 1805, T)avid ' Russell reported A that a contract had heretofore been made by certain citizens with one ' Joseph Miller for finishing the College edifice for the sum of $5,000. Tresident Sanders, writing liev. Leonard Worcester of Teacham on July 22, 1805, said a contract was about completed for the entire finishing of the college edifice. ' cAbout $5,000 had been raised chiefly by the people of Turlington. cA bell had t just been brought from ' Boston, purchased with cash subscribed by the ladies of this town, amounting to about $150. Writing again to S r. Worcester, on une 24, 1806, President Sanders said: The college edifice is nearly glazed. The tower is finished and painted on the dome. The vane and lightning rod are up. The bell proves a good one. The masons are at work and all the chim- neys will probably be finished before Commencement . i Snsitruction Pegun in 1801 Tlr ' HE University corporation on January 13. 1801, appointed President San- ' ders a committee to form a system of by-laws, determining the admiss ion and qualification of the students, the times of holding commencements, the periods of examinations, exhibitions and vacations, regulating the behavior of the students, comprehending all those rules and regulations which are usual in other universities, or which may be deemed useful in this. President Sanders and T)avid 1{ussell were authorized to purchase books and parts of a philosoph- ical apparatus according to their best discretion to the amount of $1,000. In- struction in college subjects began in 1801. Curriculum t afeen iWainlp from ilarbarD RESIDENT Wheeler is authority for the statement that the course of study ' IT ' was as extensive as in any of the S ew England colleges, and was taken mainly from Harvard University. It will be remembered that Tresident San- ders was a Harvard graduate. Chemistry and anatomy, subjects not usually taught at that time, were added. Tiev. Samuel Williams of %utland, Vermont historian and editor, and noted for his scholarly attainments before he left Massachusetts, for two years gave courses on astronomy and natural philosophy, j which Tresident Wheeler supposes to have been the first of the kind delivered in S ew £ngland. There was a college library of one hundred volumes, a society Sixteen